The commonalities in Nevada basketball's two losses this season

Wednesday night was not a good night for the Nevada basketball team.

The Wolf Pack lost to San Diego State, 65-57, at Viejas Arena, its third straight defeat to the Aztecs. That loss dropped Nevada from 11th in the NET rankings to 22nd. It defeat also sits on the fringe of a Quad 3 loss, of which Nevada already had one.

That result coupled with Fresno State's shocking home loss to Air Force robbed the Wolf Pack of its only Quad 1 win. Nevada's quadrant résumé stacks up as follows.

Quad 1: 0-0

Quad 2: 8-1

Quad 3: 7-1

Quad 4: 9-0

That's probably a No. 5 seed résumé, although the Wolf Pack still has some tough games ahead to boost that résumé. And let's reiterate the Wolf Pack is 24-2 this season. That's a great record. That's a record any Nevada fan would have easily accepted before the season began. But can we draw anything out of Nevada's two losses? Were there similarities in those New Mexico and San Diego State defeats? Let's take a look at where things have gone wrong in those games.

The games were on the road

Nevada doesn't lose at home (55-5 at home under Eric Musselman). It has been more vulnerable on the road. That's normal of every team. But the gigantic crowds in both games (12,702 fans in Albuquerque and 12,414 fans in San Diego) did impact Nevada, and its opponent. The Wolf Pack won't face that come NCAA Tournament time. If anything, the Wolf Pack will have a favorable crowd as long as it plays in San Jose State or Salt Lake City, which still seems likely despite this latest setback. Nevada remaining a top-four seed would be huge in staying West.

There were turnovers

Nevada is elite in taking care of the ball. Its 10 turnovers per game rank seventh in the nation. But in its losses, turnovers were a major issue, especially live-ball turnovers. In both games, Nevada turned the ball over 14 times. In the loss to New Mexico, those turnovers led to 20 points (the Lobos scored 27 fastbreak points). In the loss to SDSU, those turnovers led to 19 points, almost all of those coming in the first half. The Wolf Pack doesn't have a turnover issue, but when it does turn the ball over it becomes vulnerable.

Too much one-on-one

"In our two losses, we went solo too often," Musselman said during a spot on the Jim Rome Show on Thursday morning. It's true. Given the Wolf Pack's veteran nature, you'd think it'd stay the course when adversity hits and follow the game plan. It largely has done that at home, but it hasn't always done that on the road. The ball did not move well against New Mexico or San Diego State. Nevada had just 11 assists in both games with a minus-three assist-to-turnover margin in each. In its 24 wins, Nevada has averaged 15.8 assists a night with a plus-six turnover margin. Nevada can't panic when it falls behind and play hero ball.

Pounded on the glass

Nevada hasn't been quite as good of a rebounding team as we thought it'd be entering the season, but it's been above average, posting a plus-2.9 rebounding margin in its 24 wins. But it was out-rebounded by 10 in the loss to New Mexico and by nine in the loss to San Diego State. Nevada has just 16 offensive rebounds on 83 misses in those games. That's 19.2 percent, which would rank 14th worst out of 353 Division I teams. It has allowed 26 offensive rebounds on 84 forced misses. That's a defensive rebounding rate of 69 percent, which would rank second worst in the nation out of 353 D-I teams. Nevada has been destroyed on the glass in its losses.

Length and physicality

There are a lot of times Nevada walks onto the court against Mountain West teams and is so physically superior it can't be threatened. That's not the case against New Mexico and SDSU, two teams that physically look like Nevada. SDSU's length and aggressiveness definitely impacted the Wolf Pack's offense. SDSU played man-to-man rather than using the zone most squads have employed against the Wolf Pack. The refs let the teams play and Nevada was unable to get to the free throw line very often, which is a big part of its game. In the NCAA Tournament, Nevada will almost exclusively face teams that have length and athleticism like New Mexico and SDSU.

The 3-point shot was off

Nevada shoots 34.2 percent from three, which is 176th in the nation. That's literally the median rank out of D-I teams. This isn't a great 3-point shooting team, but it's also not a bad one. But in its losses to New Mexico and SDSU, the Wolf Pack has been bad from three, shooting a combined 11-of-47 from beyond the arc (23.4 percent). It didn't exceed 28 percent shooting in either loss. Come NCAA Tournament time, Nevada can't afford sub-30 percent shooting games from three.

The stars have not been stars

In Nevada's two losses, Caleb Martin, Cody Martin and Jordan Caroline have averaged 33.5 points on 20-of-71 shooting (28.1 percent). They shot 27.2 percent in the SDSU loss and 28.9 percent in the New Mexico loss. In Nevada's 24 wins, the Wolf Pack trio has averaged 49.6 points per game on 404-of-848 shooting (47.6 percent). So, you're talking 16.1 fewer points per game while shooting 19.5 percent worse from the field in those defeats.

So, there's your formula if you want to beat the Wolf Pack. Get Nevada on your home court. Turn over a team that doesn't turn it over very often. Crush it on the glass. Hope Nevada panics and plays hero ball. Have NBA length. Force Nevada into an off shooting night. And shut down the team's three stars. That's what happened in Nevada's first two losses this season. It's not an easy formula to follow. But Nevada is beatable if you do all of those things, as New Mexico and San Diego State – two fairly average teams – have done this season.